Statement on International Working Women's Day 2017

Struggle for the liberation of women and non-men! Grasp revolution and firmly oppose formalism and tailism!

Patriarchy is a central issue in the development of proletarian political
organization, and if a revolutionary line on the liberation of women and
non-men is not correctly grasped errors relating to this question will be
repeated. Many correctly uphold the need for proletarian feminism, a feminist
orientation rooted in a Marxist analysis of class and capitalism, and identify
the need for women and non-men to be involved in the leadership of
organizations. This is absolutely necessary, but it is not sufficient for
a revolutionary proletarian feminist orientation overall.

Patriarchy is a central contradiction under the capitalist mode of production.
Patriarchal relations are reproduced at every level of bourgeois society, from
the family form, to the workplace, to the ideological spheres of media,
education, and politics. Proletarian women and non-men are constantly pressured
and expected to recreate aspects of bourgeois family relations, which are
neither liberatory nor often realistically possible given their class position.
This results in ongoing conflict and oppression, as the family reproduces the
class struggle at a cellular level, a microcosm where patriarchy reins and
abuse and degradation fester. In the workplace sexual harassment, wage
inequality, transphobia, lack of childcare, rape apoligism and male chauvinism
run rampant. The US state wages imperialist wars supposedly in the name of
oppressed women elsewhere, revealing in its patronizing concern the patriarchal
nature of bourgeois society at all levels. But patriarchy is not just an
external force which is imposed on the oppressed and exploited masses of women
and non-men by the bourgeoisie – patriarchal ideas are also reproduced
internally to the proletariat itself. This internal reproduction of male
chauvinism, abuse, transphobia, queerphobia, etc is a major barrier to building
proletarian power, and we will not be able to challenge the patriarchal society
in which we live unless we build up our ability to struggle against patriarchy
internal to the proletarian camp.

Relatedly, our engagement with the struggle for the liberation of women and
non-men must be a principled engagement, seeing this struggle as a key front of
the struggle against oppression and exploitation (and, hence, for communism)
overall. We need to grasp revolution and recognize the link between the
struggle against patriarchy and the class struggle more broadly. This entails
struggling in the proletarian organization against patriarchal ideas, using the
method of discussion and debate where appropriate, and the method of expulsion
and isolation otherwise, and struggling amongst the masses to develop their
political unity and capacity to fight for and win the liberation of women and
non-men. This is opposed to a formalistic conception, that sees the struggle
against patriarchy as a box to check and perhaps a way to recruit a few women
and non-men to the proletarian political organization. It is also opposed to
a tailist approach, which relates to the mass movements against patriarchy but
does not correctly understand the need for proletarian leadership in these
struggles (and therefore negates the need for proletarian politics).

On the question of leadership, Mao said that:

“The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant
contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out
a central line to resolve it.”

Only if we firmly grasp this point can we correctly say that we are providing
leadership to the mass movement. Mao is clearly opposing a tendency that
reduces leadership to ‘those in charge’ or ‘those who already have the correct
ideas’. Instead of these formalisms we should see proletarian leadership as the
means by which we can identify the primary contradiction in a situation and
work out a line to resolve it. This is an active process and a constant one - not
a matter of mechanically upholding past ‘correct verdicts’ but of
creatively applying MLM to concrete situations. Proletarian organization
itself is only a means by which to further this process, not an end in and of
itself. An organization that cannot engage in this process will be unable to
put forward a proletarian feminist line, and will only be able to put forward
a line that reproduces patriarchy in the name of proletarian politics.

We cannot simply affirm the centrality of patriarchy under capitalism and then
call it a day. We all need to take an active role in the struggle against
patriarchy, including by bringing revolutionary ideology to the mass movement.
A proletarian feminist orientation cannot be reduced to internal struggles
(women and non-men in leadership, struggling solely against the internal
reproduction of patriarchy within an organization) or to a formalistic
relationship to the mass movement. Patriarchy is a central aspect of the
oppression the masses are facing daily, and we need to see the struggle against
patriarchy therefore as a key front in the struggle for communism overall. We
need at all times to have a proletarian feminist orientation and outlook, but
we also need to understand that at times patriarchy can become a primary
contradiction, and at other times it can become secondary. Firmly grasping
revolution means always seeking the primary contradiction, the primary aspect
of that contradiction, and placing the utmost importance on working out a line
to handle it.

Build up the revolutionary camp! Dare to struggle against patriarchy,
revisionism, and mechanical thinking, and dare to win!